A city court has directed the Delhi police commissioner to state whether any chargesheet was ever filed in a case of hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Pakistan in 1981.

The order was passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau on an application by an accused, who was convicted and sentenced for the offence by a Lahore court.

Tejinder Pal Singh, along with four other Sikh militants - Satnam Singh, Gajender Singh, Kan Singh and Jasbir Singh - had hijacked the IA Flight 423 to Lahore from Delhi on August 29, 1981.

All the accused were convicted and served punishment in a Pakistan jail.

After his return, Tejinder filed an application seeking discharge from the case registered in India on the ground that he had already undergone sentence for the offence.

Subsequently, the court had directed the Delhi police to apprise it about the status of the case.

However, the police failed to furnish any report about the case leading the court to suspect if there was any remarkable development in the incident.

"In this background, there is every possibility that he may have never been chargesheeted," the court had said, directing Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul to find out if a chargesheet was ever filed against Tejinder.

It had also asked Paul to submit a report on whether any prosecution sanction had been taken from the government against Singh.

Observing that it has not been able to proceed further with the application for discharge of the case in absence of any definite information on filing of chargesheet, the court asked the commissioner to furnish report regarding investigation against all the accused who have returned to India after serving jail terms in Pakistan.

Tejinder, after his return to India in 1997, had moved an application seeking discharge of the case, assuming that a case regarding the offence of hijacking must be running here.

The court on receipt of the application from Singh, had asked for the main file but the Palam police station officials failed to made it available.

The court then asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to trace the documents whether any prosecution sanction had ever been taken from the government against the accused, but the Ministry could not find it as well.

The deputy commissioner of police, IGI Airport, also failed to assist the court in the case despite several notices.